Customer Reviews

Mountain Biking Northern New Mexico: A Guide to Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque Areas' Greatest Off- Road Bicycle Rides

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is as good as a mtb guide gets. The focus is small enough that it can really cover the 3 areas thoroughly, the advise is good, the trail selection is good, and the maps are...standard Falconguide maps, which are OK. D'Antonio doesn't make the mistake of underrating the technical difficulty of his trails. Two caveats: he omits the wonderful Horse Thief trail in Taos--go to Gearing Up bike shop and they'll sell you a stunningly good map; and he tells you to ride the Chamisa Tr in Sante Fe backwards--take his advice and you'll do all the dirt uphill and all the pavement downhill.

I have a huge collection of mountain bike guidebooks and I rate this as one of the worst. Before moving to Santa Fe I purchased this book and was given the impression that there wasn't much great riding to be had. When an author includes a paved bike path in a mountain bike guidebook you have to figure there isn't much out there. Since living here, I have found so many outstanding rides that were not even mentioned in the book. That is what often happens when an out of towner comes to write a guide. They get a few of the classics like the wonderful South Boundary Trail, but the locals don't always let them in on the goods. I gave it one star for including South Boundary. Otherwise, not much of an effort.

This book has some great rides with good descriptions and directions. It is lacking some critical closure information that a NEW guidebook should have. For example, the Otero Canyon ride has been closed, but this book does not mention any access issues at all. Some similar problems on other trails.